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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198152">A Brief Audience with Tifa Lockhart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c'>sanctum_c</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Spring Awakening 2019 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Interviews, Light-Hearted, Meta, Music, Musicians, Nibelheim (Compilation of FFVII), Not Advent Children (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Before Crisis (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Compilation of Final Fantasy VII Compliant, Not Crisis Core (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Dirge of Cerberus (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Final Fantasy VII Remake Compliant, Original Character(s), Performing Arts, Phone Calls &amp; Telephones, Piano, Protective Tifa Lockhart, Reviews, Serious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2019-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2019-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:13:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>851</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198152</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Tifa Lockhart, piano prodigy, returned home this week to the sleepy town of Nibelheim. Many still express surprise that a concert pianist of her level could originate from such a remote locale and with a strange lack of professional tutelage. When I put this to Lockhart all she can do is shrug and laugh at those who still insist there must be some subterfuge or that Lockhart herself is a distraction from the true talent.</i>
</p><hr/><p>Ahead of Tifa Lockhart's latest album - Reunion - our writer got a chance to quiz her about her life, her loves and her music.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Spring Awakening 2019 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985497</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Brief Audience with Tifa Lockhart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the prompt 'Warm Tones'</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tifa Lockhart, piano prodigy, returned home this week to the sleepy town of Nibelheim. Many still express surprise that a concert pianist of her level could originate from such a remote locale and with a strange lack of professional tutelage. When I put this to Lockhart all she can do is shrug and laugh at those who still insist there must be some subterfuge or that Lockhart herself is a distraction from the true talent.<br/>
To emphasise the point she invites me upstairs to her childhood bedroom, asks me to look over the battered piano. I try to denounce the comment, assuring her that I have no doubts about her talent, but she insists. The piano – to my admittedly untrained eye – contains nothing underhanded. Each key operates as one would expect; Lockhart even lifts the lid so I can witness the direct action of each hammer. There are no electronic switches, no automated music feed. The piano is normal and unremarkable.</p><p>Without a hint of hesitation Lockhart plays ‘Country Boy’ without the slightest mistake, imbuing the song with the warmth and cheer found in the upbeat side of her catalogue. I sit quietly, enthralled as Lockhart strikes the keys, her eyes closed and smiling as she plays.</p><p>Lockhart is famously single, though many have tried to claim dalliances with her in her childhood. Lockhart has denied every one of these, but many have asked the same question I do: who – if anyone – is the boy of the title? It seems there might be someone in this world that she cares for to a degree to compose the track, but Lockhart demurs and interrupts to call for coffee.</p><p>Cloud Strife, Lockhart’s life-long assistant and friend, intrudes with coffee some minutes later. I later tried to engage him later in conversation, but Strife is a man of few words, content to fade into the background of events and never one to seek the limelight. The ‘Country Boy’ of the track? It hardly seems plausible to connect the two. Certainly one could make the deductive leap given their longevity of time together, but surely something would have slipped by now. There are no lingering glances or personal smiles in their interactions; if Strife is indeed the object of Lockhart’s affections, both of them are enacting a world-class performance to keep this truth hidden.</p><p>I ask about the curious nature of her compositions. Her warm, upbeat tracks (the afore-mentioned ‘Country Boy’, ‘Valley of the Fallen Star’, ‘Costal Resort’ for example) were all composed on the road during her various tours. The darker, more sinister tracks that brought her to the public's attention (‘Those Chosen by the Planet’, ‘Corporate’ and her one choral work, ‘One-Winged Angel’ amongst them) were composed in Nibelheim on the very piano Lockhart is sat at.</p><p>Lockhart is unable to articulate why her compositions vary to such extremes. The best she can offer is who can truly say where ideas come from? A philosophical answer. She’s right of course, who would ask any playwright or author if their location influenced what they wrote? Though few examples express such a clear delineation.</p><p>My time with Lockhart is almost up, but I would be remiss if I did not ask if I could hear anything of her new compositions. With astonishing generosity, Lockhart agrees to let me hear a song from her next album; ‘Calamity from the Skies’. And now my previous question about the locale the songs were composed in falls flat. The song is a soaring, championing song, promising glory and life and wonder.</p>
<hr/><p>I wrote the above words following my interview with Lockhart and well in advance of her latest album’s release. For various reasons the publication of my column was delayed until after the album’s release, giving me the opportunity to listen to the refined and finished version of ‘Calamity from the Skies’. The song troubles me in a way that is hard to admit.</p><p>You likely have heard the track; the swirling piano piece, fast tempo and hinting at a prolonged conflict. It seems absurd to insist that my reaction to the song is so different now to when I heard it in Nibelheim. So changed was my experience that I reached out to Lockhart for answers. How had the song changed? Why had the tone and feel of the track become so much darker, hinting at battle, at strife, at the unknown and unknowable? I was unable to discuss this directly with Lockhart, but Strife passed on my questions and later provided an answer.</p><p>I remain unsure how to interpret this answer. Strife quotes Lockhart as saying that the track is little changed from the performance I heard. Certainly there have been no changes in tone or themes in the music. The track continues to trouble me, and does, perhaps, say far more about my own reactions to Lockhart’s work than any strangeness in the composition. Few would dwell on the track – as good as it is alongside the rest of the album – but personally it raises some perplexing questions.</p><p>
  <i>Tifa Lockhart's latest album, 'Reunion', is now available.</i>
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